Sunday, 1st March 2009
I have been researching about the German VoIP company, Betamax GmbH & Co KG, to find the right VoIP service for me. I used VoIP Stunt, which is also a Betamax service, but they no longer have free calls to Thailand.
Betamax has a terrible reputation online. If you do a Google search for “Betamax scams”, you will see a long list of customer complaints about this company. It seems like Betamax has a lot of different web sites that offer free calls to different countries. Most of them are almost the same. It would take forever to visit every web site to find out which web site has free calls to countries you wish to call to.
Thankfully, someone create a web site that compares all the Betamax web sites on a single page. You can select the coutries you wish to call to and filter the results.
Click on the thumbnail to see the full sized picture. I found 3 web sites (SmartVoIP, VoIPDiscount and LowCostVoIP) that have free calls to Singapore and Thailand. I decided to go with VoIP Discount since all 3 …
Tagged As: Betamax, Caller ID, Singapore, Thailand, voip
Monday, 19th January 2009
I called a few transport companies and they quoted me SGD $2500 – SGD $3000 for moving my stuff from Singapore to Bangkok via sea freight. My personal items aren’t even worth SGD $2000 and it would not make sense to pay an extra SGD $2500 excluding taxes when the custom officers go through my stuff one by one.
I decided to pack the essential items I want to bring over to my apartment into boxes and ship them via sea mail instead. I estimate it would cost me a maximum of SGD $300 + to ship over 40 kg of stuff. It will take 3-4 weeks to reach Thailand but I will be spending a few weeks in Singapore before I go back. I think my stuff will arrive at about the same time I arrive in Bangkok.
I pack my items with an estimated value about SGD $100 into a box. Even if the box gets lost in transit, I will get a refund of $100. Some boxes have stuff that are worth more than SGD $100, therefore I would have to purchase extra insurance for extra coverage.
I see 2 probably terrible scenarios for me – Firstly, I might taxed …
Sunday, 11th January 2009
I was standing at a bus stop at the On Nut BTS station waiting for the Bangkok airport bus 552 at about 12 noon yesterday. I was told the bus goes directly to the Suvarnabhumi international airport and only costs 32 THB.
I thought I was going to have a pleasant journey to the airport but I was wrong, dead wrong.
This noisy bus stopped in front of the bus stop and this ruffian came down and snatched my luggage, which was less than 1 feet away from me. I was left speechless and stunned for a couple of seconds. Then I realised this man was running back to his bus with my luggage!
His bus then started driving away. What did I do? I was not going to stand there and let him steal my luggage so I ran after his moving bus and jumped aboard. I asked him what he was doing and where his bus was going. I told him I wanted to go to the Suvarnabhumi airport and he told me it would cost me 80 THB.
I paid him the money and sulked at my …
Tagged As: Bangkok, Suvarnabhumi, Suvarnabhumi Airport, Thailand
Sunday, 4th January 2009
I found an apartment in Bangkok on craigslist.org. I learnt this tip from the 4-Hour Workweek book. I avoided property agents and contacted ads post by apartment owners. Before searching on craigslist.org, I spent a lot of time contacting property agents and browsing Thai property sites that listed apartments at ridiculously high rates.
Amazingly, I am paying about the same amount of rent I am paying back home in Singapore but it is much better here. I’ve got loads of cable TV channels, free internet, cheap utilities, more space and I am allowed to keep my 4 cats here. I think I got a really good deal here and I am really happy with my apartment. I also followed Tim’s advice on living in hostels for a while before moving into an apartment.
Living in hostels in not for everyone. The shared dorms can get rather smelly once they are full. I spent 8 nights at a hostel before moving to a hotel. The benefits of hostels is …
Tagged As: Bangkok, Singapore, Thai language, Thailand, visa
Thursday, 1st January 2009
I bumped into an Indian astrologer/fortune teller/holy man/yogi/director today. That’s a lot of slashes but that was what I was told from this guy.
I was minding my own business at the hotel lobby this morning when 2 Indian men came and sat at the table next to mine. One of them was a Sikh Indian and the other guy looked pretty young. The young guy introduced himself as Rajah or something, at least that was what I heard. We started with a bit of small talk about where I was from and we talked a bit about our countries and occupations.
Rajah said he was in Singapore some time ago to make a movie. I asked him if he was a movie star but he said he was a movie director instead. He said his Sikh friend helps him out.
The next part gets really interesting…
He started talking about my forehead and he made a good comment about it. He said I would receive good luck this month. He said I think too much lately, which was spot on because I have been thinking a lot during my Bangkok holiday.
I asked Rajah if he was a fortune teller and he said he …
Tagged As: Bangkok, Indian Fortune Teller, Thailand
Monday, 29th December 2008
I have updated my WordPress to the 2.7. I just installed the NextGen gallery to display my pictures. Check out all of the pictures I have taken so far!
Here are more of my observations of Thais and their culture.
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Monday, 22nd December 2008
I’ve been around Bangkok for a week now and I’m slowly getting used to all the new sights, smells and sounds of this wild city. I actually thought of moving to Bangkok last year but I procrastinated and shelved the plan. That plan was revived after I read the 4-Hour Workweek.
Moving out of home, let alone my country is not something that is common in a Chinese family. Almost all my family members disagree with my decision. It is a Chinese tradition to live in your parents’ home to “take care” of them. However, I see a lot of Chinese parents taking care of their adult kids instead of them taking care of their parents. Either way, as long as you live with your parents, you’re generally seen as a good filial kid. To leave your parents and move out is seen as being selfish and unfilial.
It was not an easy decision for me but I believe I have to do it for my own good. I cannot please them by making myself unhappy any longer and I am sure they would understand my reasons for leaving. Furthermore, my family is very dysfunctional and I have been longing to …
Tagged As: Asia, australia, Bangkok, forex, migration, moving, piptronic, pipzu, Singapore, Singapore dollar, Thailand
Wednesday, 17th December 2008
Image via Wikipedia
I am putting the knowledge I learnt from the 4-Hour Workweek into practice. I have decided to check out Bangkok, Thailand as my next location to live. My plan to migrate to Australia is still on but it will be delayed due to the global economic crisis that has badly affected Australia’s economy.
Now the Aussie dollar is worth almost as much as the Singapore dollar! Furthermore, Australia has decided to decrease the amount of foreigners entering their country so I think that might delay my permanent residence application. My application was received by the Australian authorities on 31 April 2008 and it should take 1 year from that date to complete.
I will definitely move to Australia in the future but I am not sure if I would make it my permanent home. That would depend on how things work out in Thailand.
I have been in Bangkok, Thailand for 3 days now. I arrived on 15 December 2008 from Singapore. I plan to check the city out and as many locations as possible to get …
Tagged As: 4-hour work week, Bangkok, Singapore, Thailand, Thaksin Shinawatra
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